


Hide Yourself Behind a Mask

by FeralCoffeeBug



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: I sorta projected onto lurien a lot in this one, Me? Developing lurien? No way, lurien is a painter, luriens past, mental health, sorta a vent fic?, very objective look on lurien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28578579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralCoffeeBug/pseuds/FeralCoffeeBug
Summary: The first time he noticed he distanced himself from others was when he was watching how the other kids interacted, watching the way they played and talked, their movements and trying to figure out how it worked. He never truly figured it out, he was always the outcast.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	Hide Yourself Behind a Mask

The first time he realized he wasn’t like the other kids was when he was a small child. The other kids didn’t like him, and the ones that did liked him as more of an accessory, something to say that they were charitable for being friends with the lonely soul that had the name of Lurien.

The first time he noticed he distanced himself from others was when he was watching how the other kids interacted, watching the way they played and talked, their movements and trying to figure out how it worked. He never truly figured it out, he was always the outcast.

Coming into junior high, he took a new approach to school life. Some would say he got his act together, but truly Lurien wasn’t. He never had his act together. He made friends, and was a little louder. These friendships wouldn’t last, falling apart as time went on. Lurien couldn’t bring himself to care. He was tired of trying to work things out, and the ending of the friendship gave him just that.

After that first year, he returned to his normal, quiet self. He faded back into the backdrop that was oh so familiar and welcoming to him. He would remain this way for the rest of his life, a watcher. His family tried to push him out of his shell, get him back to being social.

Lurien didn’t have the heart to tell them that it was a mask.

By year three he was given a therapist, a diagnosis of depression danced in front of him. He didn’t understand what was wrong with him, he wasn’t upset, he wasn’t numb. He was just quiet. 

Half a year later he got handed the diagnosis of Anxiety, after one day he was found clawing at the wall and sharp, labored breaths escaped his throat, an invisible band over his chest. 

He found solist in painting, it was freeing. His room was his safe space and art was a form of expressing himself. For a moment Lurien would forget the misery of life, forget that he was nothing more than a background object.

But as time went on, it became more and more worrisome for those around him. He didn’t talk to others often, he didn’t make himself known. Most times people would forget that he was there. He didn’t mind, however those around him pressured him that he wouldn’t be able to make a life like this.

Lurien’s story doesn’t end here, his quiet nature and calm voice soon caught the attention of an overworked king and queen. His perception and tendency to watch silently didn’t slip under them. And the King offered him an esteemed position.

That is the day that Lurien, a common bug, became Lurien the Watcher and overseer of the City of Tears.


End file.
